Personal accounts of the nursing home search and selection process

In this article, the personal, idiosyncratic elements of the nursing home search and selection process, from the point of knowing that institutionalization was necessary through the final selection decision, is investigated. Data are derived from interviews with 25 nursing home patient sponsors'' (the individuals identified by nursing homes as the primary contact person or responsible person for the patient) of recently admitted nursing home patients and 3 significant other informants for a total sample size of 28. Their stories reveal a rather hectic and stressful process, for which families were ill-prepared, and often undertaken during the crisis of hospitalization. Most respondents did not comment on the use or benefit of printed nursing home guides. Instead, respondents simply looked for a facility that was convenient to home or work and relied heavily on word-of-mouth recommendations by friends and family members.